Life in Japan - Explore Archived World Race Alumni Blogs

Greetings from Malaysia.

We recognize it has been a while since we have blogged so we thought we would give a quick update and post a few pictures. We have just arrived in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia but spent last month (November) in Japan. We lived on top of Mount Rokko which overlooks the Osaka Megalopolis area- 16,000,000 people!

We lived with our ministry host, Michael. Michael is originally from England, but has lived in Japan for 30 years. He is an anthropology professor in Osaka and has one 20 year old son, Emani. Michael purchased his house on Mount Rokko (where we lived with him) with an amazing vision from God. Michael and Emani live in this enormous house all by themselves. His vision is to use his house to put up missionaries and other groups/organizations while they are passing through, staying in Japan, or when they simply need a place of retreat. Since he purchased the house three years ago he has been busy collecting everything he would ever need to fill it up (furniture, tools, kitchen gadgets, bedding- basically you name it and he has it). And I almost forgot to mention, THOUSANDS OF BOOKS! Once his house was full of stuff he wasn’t quite sure how to make his dream a reality. So our team, team deep, lived with him for a month and went to work transforming his house into a home. We cleaned, arranged (and rearranged and rearranged and rearranged J), organized, painted, split wood (with a hammer and chisels), built paths, did yard work, built fence, and decorated! God graciously let us be a huge part in making Michael’s dream come true.

This month was a huge blessing for Sam and I. Because of the nature of the World Race (working primarily with ministries that are centered on building relationships & only being in each country for a month) we don’t always get to see the fruits of our labor. Pouring our hearts out to the people and communities for a month, and then saying goodbye, and then doing it again, and then again, and then again takes quite the toll on us emotionally. We love it. We wouldn’t trade our experiences, the friends we’ve made in each place, or what God has taught us through it all for anything. But, having a break from this type of ministry has been good for our soul. Getting to do manual labor, checking things off a list, and at the end of the day being able to sit back and admire our hard work was a nice change, and very rewarding.

Throughout the month we did draw very close to our host and his son. Saying goodbye was still heartbreaking, probably the hardest goodbye yet. But we left their house a home and we left with two new family members. We love you Michael and Emani. Thank you for showing us how to have a generous heart.

MICHAEL’S LOVELY HOME…